Arjun pushes ball to SC over BHU students union revival

Varanasi, Aug 20 (UNI) Amid demand for revival of students union in the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) here, Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh today pushed the ball over the issue to the Supreme Court.

A petition was filed in the past over conduct of students union elections in universities, admitting which the apex court had ordered for the constitution of a committee under the chairmanship of former Chief Election Commission J M Lyngdoh, Mr Singh said while addressing a function to mark the 62nd birth anniversary of late former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

The Lyngdoh committee's recommendations are pending before the SC and any decision over the issue of holding students union polls in BHU can only be taken after the SC passes order over the committee report, Mr Singh maintained.

Earlier, at the programme organised by the BHU unit of National Students Union of India (NSUI), students raised voices in support of the demand for restoration of the students union. Their demand found support in former BHU student leader and senior state Congress leader Bhola Pandey.

The call was buttressed by local Congress MP and former vice-president of BHU Students Union (BHUSU) Rajesh Mishra, who questioned from the same dias shared among others by the HRD Minister, the rationale behind keeping the BHUSU locked when students union were thriving in other central universities.

Students Union elections in BHU have not been held in BHU since the ugly ncidents on February 20, 1997, when violence was witnessed on the central university campus during the introductory speech of candidates for that year student union polls.

In his address, Mr Singh appealed to the students to launch a committed drive to throw out criminals from the country's democratic system.

''The committment should be self-less and not aimed at political opportunism,'' he added.

''Criminals and opportunists were hell-bent on paralysing the Indian democracy and it is upto the youth now to wage a battle to throw such unscrupulous elements out of our democratic system,'' Mr Singh maintained.

Mr Singh also assured consideration of the matter of providing full UGC grant to four colleges of the city affiliated to BHU. The colleges include Basanta College, Rajghat, DAV College, Arya Mahila PG College and Vasant Kanya Mahavidyalay.

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